THE leader of Wokingham Borough Council has written to other authorities to garner support for a reform of how housing needs are calculated.
Cllr Clive Jones thinks a new framework is required to ensure development is spread evenly across the country and not concentrated on London and the south east.
He believes if councils work together then the government is more likely to take action.
“Unless we work together with other councils that are struggling to reach government-imposed housing numbers, Conservative ministers will not listen to us,” said Cllr Jones.
“The only way that Conservative ministers will listen to us is if they lose seats at local government and parliamentary level.
“The Lib Dems gained 500 seats at the last local elections in May and they have won three parliamentary by-elections from the Conservatives in the last 15 months.”
Wokingham borough has a government target to build nearly 800 new homes a year, a target that Cllr Jones feels “greatly exceeds” local need.
In the letter, sent to the leaders and chief executives of 20 nearby councils, he said the issues facing Wokingham are common to many other areas in the region.
Cllr Jones is hoping to receive a positive response from the recipients by the end of September.
He added: “By then there will probably be a new secretary of state and the government will hopefully not be totally distracted by their leadership election and bad mouthing each other.”
This isn’t the first letter Cllr Jones has penned on the issue.
Last month he wrote to Greg Clarke, secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, asking him to visit Wokingham to discuss the development pressures on the borough.
